Instablility

"Before the beginning of great brilliance, there must be chaos. Before a brilliant person begins something great, they must look foolish in the crowd." -I Ching
Being an initiate to the mysteries of history, I am aware of the fact that at no given time in recorded reality has human society ever tended toward order at the exclusion of chaos/anarchy/destruction. In fact the two trends seem to feed off each other with a symbiotic ferocity that is the primary culprit for the epic bloodletting and insanity of the past few lifetimes. The more our organized and disciplined societies build and create the more falls victim to desolation and exploitation. Granted going to the moon was a rather awesome thing to do with your time, but the logic behind it was purely a need to prove the superiority of our system over that of the Soviets. After the USSR threw in the towel NATO breathed a huge sigh of relief only then to realize that spending astronomical amounts of resources on the time honored European tradition of organized violence and its partner in crime- Nationalism. During the Cold War most European colonies where decommissioned into ungovernable and easily manipulated satrapies wherein all that was often need to continue the process of resource extraction and selling their manufactured goods to a dependent market was to maintain the militaries of these so called 'countries'. This of course has been known to backfire in cases like Idi Amin, Gaddafi, Saddam, Shah and plenty of others; but having said that it certainly does wonders for justifying a military supremacy of apocalyptic proportions. It seems that the West actually needs a few conflicts kept at a low boil in order to exert its moral, economic and military authority over the rest of the world. Countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Afghanistan are excellent examples to all those would be truly independent countries out there that the Industrialized world still has the power to go into any corner of the world, or to quarantine it off and let it die a long painful diseased death. The justification for the interventions of the modern post Cold War era are essentially the same used in the last great Imperial Era 1870's-1914 minus the overtly racist Social Darwinism dimension, which has apparently become such a well ingrained part of Western thought that it isn't necessary to openly discuss why exactly brown people are our natural subjects ,enemies, and/or desperate dependents. The sheer fact that the terms of trade demanded by the IMF, WTO and all other international trade organizations are based on blatant hypocrisy to such an extent that only people in the so called developed who enjoy the benefits can possibly believe in it. As the economic conditions become more challenging for the wealthy world mark my words concern for the human rights of those in the undeveloped parts of the globe will hit a new all time low. The fact that the system is also breeding poverty and social decay right here in America as wealth is consolidated and unemployment reaches 10%, as well as 2,304,115 were incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails in 2008 and 92,854 held in juvenile facilities as of the 2006 Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP). I guess Napoleon's old adage 'divide and conquer' is still about as effective strategy as ever.

Rumors of their deaths and our victories have been greatly exaggerated

The way that the US Military has conducted the so called 'War on Terror' is really more of a popularity contest than a legitimate counterinsurgency. The whole premise of the invasion was to go after one man, an excuse that was essentially used in Panama and Iraq as well. Ever since it became apparent that we wouldn't be catching Willy Coyote (bin Laden)there has been no shortage of hardcore renegades to assassinate. This last week it was claimed that the popular Hakimullah Meshud had been killed in a drone attack inside Pakistan. The 28 year old had been the most vocal and visible leaders of the Pakistani Taliban. He had only recently taken over from Baitullah Meshud (droned while at Father in Law's house in August 2009) whose popularity had led some analysists to refer to him as the unofficial Amir of South Waziristan. Seeing as how both had multiple false death claims made of them it isn't certain whether Hakimullah is actually dead. He had gained great notoriety by attacking supply convoys of NATO on their way through Northern Pakistan and also for being responsible for the daring suicide attack that killed 5 CIA agents in Afghanistan a few months ago. This strategy of trying to cut the head off the hydra of resistance has produced a long list of Martyrs that have made the cause sacrosanct for those that lived to fight another day. Interestingly, the two men that hold the most sway, Mullah Mohamed Omar and Jalaluddin Haqqani seem beyond the reach of the drones and their missiles. Most intelligence reports seem to agree that they are both living in the city of Quetta in the Balochistan Provice of Pakistan. This predominately Pashtun city is in the province of the Baloch tribe, which the government has no desire to get involved in bloody fighting as it did in 2005 when it lost 60 soldier and 7 officers when they went to capture Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, a tribal leader of the Balochi. After the fighting had ended and the Pakistani troops approached the 79 year old Sheik he detonated the explosives he had been strapped with before the battle began. Quetta is supposedly a very nice city with wonderful flora and fauna in its wonderful parks with a nice lake making the mile high city rather beatiful. Being right by the border with the most volatile province of Afghanistan, it is an ideal place for a renegade sheik trying to fight a bloody war of attrition against the most technologically advanced military in history.
"don't give me your alms, just save me from your dogs"
-Pashtun Proverb

Ashura 1431 AH

“With society and its public, there is no longer any other language than that of bombs, barricades, and all that follows.” -Antonin Artaud

The Right to Exist

"I am not a terrorist, but neither am I a pacifist. I am simply a regular guy from the Palestinian street advocating only what every other oppressed person has advocated—the right to help myself in the absence of help from anywhere else."
It is often the case in human history that the course of this escapade is determined by who is allowed to exist and who is not. Everyone from Caesar to Christ to Gandhi can bear testimony to the veracity of this statement. On this very day that we have all just lived, there are a great number of people whose existence is being challenged, either through incarceration, censorship or assassination. In the amazing amalgamation that is modern human society some people therein are fiercely persecuted for merely being who they are where they are. One of these individuals is someone I've followed for eight years in the news and have been perpetually impressed with. His name is Marwan Bourghouti and he is sitting in an Israeli jail today wondering if he will ever be set free. Of all the leaders of the Palestinian resistance, Marwan stands in a category all his own. He has been likened to a Palestinian Nelson Mandela, primarily for being imprisoned for being basically a moderate and always seeking a peaceful resolution. Despite this Bourghouti will never be called a coward, because he has never once hesitated to fight for his right to be a human being born where he was who he was. Being a pivotal leader in both the First ('87-'93)and Second (2000-today) Intifadas he often led marches of thousands of regular unarmed Palestinians to Israeli checkpoints. It is difficult to fathom where courage comes from, but to live in a situation of complete vulnerability to your enemies and utter helplessness to defend against them must do something to a persons perspective. most madness ridden sliver of land in the world. For what its worth Marwan Bourghouti, I respect and admire you for your life; may you be allowed to continue and hopefully be set free.
"Rebellion, though apparently negative, since it creates nothing, is profoundly positive in that it reveals the part of man which must always be defended." -Albert Camus

Law and Order part I Dia de los Muertos

"Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion." -Oscar Wilde
Despite the impressive progress made in the past several decades to bring the entire world into the global market there are still regions that seem rather serious about resisting. The mindblowing spectacle of modernity is a phantasmagoria of desire difficult to resist when it is offered as a birth right. For those however that see their lands, culture and people consumed for the grand pageant there is often a point of no return were you either sign on with the New World Order or you get ready for the bombs to start falling. This conflict is most frequently painted in the West as a battle between the forward march of freedom/progress that is being impeded by anachronistic and inherently belligerent peoples. In most instances however, it is a battle against centralized authority, which is often synonymous with exploitation. British Raj era term for Waziristan mountains- Hell's Door Knocker. The Pakistani military started on Oct. 17th an offensive dubbed "Operation Path to Salvation". This is a civil war that has been on the horizon since the mass migration of people to what is today called Pakistan after the partition and subsequent wars with India. The various tribes that are hostile to the Government forces there are some of the most warlike people on the planet, so there down to throw down; not like they really had a choice anyway. We'll have to see how that one works out. Aside from resistance in this fashion, there is always the gold old fashioned cluster fuck of internecine warfare, like that in Eastern Congo. A recent statistic said that 1,200 people die from ongoing violence and its consequences every single day. The fighting hasn't really stopped in this area since the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, but ebbs and flows with the various ferocity. The UN forces just announced today that they will no longer being giving logistical or military support for the Congolese Army on account of the fact that they have been killing Hutu civilians in North Kivu. Lawlessness on a level incomprehensible to most of mankind is just how things are done in the Congo Basin. On another front in the ongoing battle between authority and anarchy, the Great Mexican Drug war is rumbling right along. Gargantuan profits lead to battles erupting along the border and smuggling routes. The "Law" in Mexico rarely wants to go engage in combat with any of the cartels because nobody really wants to have their head cut off and family murdered. Because so many of the foot soldiers the cartels employ are ex-military, using that institution often proves very difficult to say the least. One of the newer cartels, Los Zetas, is largely ex Mexican Special Forces that maintain much contact and access with the Military. These people are clearly not fucking around, in case the picture fails to convey this fact.
"Árbol que crece torcido jamás su tronco endereza"
The tree that grows bent will never get straight again."
-Mexican Proverb

Bravery

"Courage is in the air in bracing whiffs
Better than all the stalemate an’s and ifs."
Throughout the timeless trial of thought
can we define what it is we've got
the buildings are built
and the people then wilt
like a flower without water
why do we even bother?
to construct a world such as ours
the endless roads filled with cars
Our soul and brain are clearly insane
if we can happily embrace the mundane
then we deserve the world we get
and we have no place to talk shit
for iff courage and imagination don't dominate
then forever shall we feel fear, despair, hate
As the coward dies many times before his death
So the brave live life in every single breath
if we're ever to pull ourselves out of this abyss
and build a world of transcendant bliss
we need to shed the lies that cloud our eyes
must be prepared to raid and raze
all the aspects of this malaise phase
I probably wouldn't want to live another day
unless i thought we're going to find a way
for me i can only handle the matter
with copious amounts of laughter

Pakistan

"No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."
-James Madison
"War is not so much a matter of weapons as of money." -Thucydides
"Originally war was nothing but a struggle for pasture grounds. To-day war is nothing but a struggle for the riches of nature. By virtue of an inherent law, these riches belong to him who conquers them." -Adolf Hitler
The United States of America is an Empire, and to maintain an Empire one must spill blood from time to time. What is currently transpiring in the Pashtun areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan is such a blood letting session. The Pashtuns are a proud, tenacious and tribal people that, much like the Chechens, don't really give a flying fuck who they are fighting. Their society is so prepared for conflict that its a cornerstone of their culture. Pashtunwali is the code by which they live and it leaves no room for ambiguity. When the countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan came into being it effectively cut the Pasthun community in two, at least on maps. In reality however the thousand year old bonds that form the foundation of this community means they generally ignore the border unless they are using to flee attack from one side to the other. Like many people in their area, the Pashtuns understand very well that if you want to keep your land you have to fight for it, this is just how things work in this part of the world. As the confrontation between the Pakistani military and the Taliban reaches new levels of animosity and violence, the likelihood of a full scale civil war (although in reality more of a ethnic war) is going to erupt grows daily. The nature of asymmetrical warfare necessitates extreme tactics like suicide bombings, guerrilla warfare, and sabotage. Well, one things you gotta say for the Americans, we generally start wars with pretty tough people. We killed a third of Vietnam, and they didn't give up. The Pashtuns are just as hardcore, if not more so. Don't think that the Pashtuns don't have friends, for the Balochi whose territory is virtually half of Pakistan, are sympathetic and also hostile to the government. Although we aren't trying to occupy the region like the Ruskies did, we are setting up strategic bases to use potentially against Iran or China. We are there to exercise our Imperial prerogative. A people does not sink a large portion of their capital for 60 years and not utilize it... its just simply not done. But don't worry my fellow Americans, these people love killing each other and will surely continue doing so long after we are gone. We just have to try our hand and ruling Eurasia, every truly great Empire has to try it once. With our unprecedented military and technological advantage we might make a go of it, for awhile.
"Haha.. you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is: Never get involved in a land war in Asia."-Vizzini in The Princess Bride

Well

Another day under the 5th Sun

The Eurasians and Africans just finished up another wild and woolly day that included: An ambush upon Pakistani paramilitary forces that killed 40, a day after a major raid on an army headquarters by Taliban forces. New figures are emerging that show a meteoric rise in Cancer rates in parts of Iraq where the US has dropped a lot of Depleted Uranium ordinance- people in the Arab world care about this even if others don't. North Korea once more demonstrated its ability to fire missiles into the Pacific, launching 5 for no known reason as the South tries to engage it on flooding concerns that have already killed several people... different priorities I suppose. China once again got an opportunity to show the world that unlike many places in the world, they get to exercise their sovereignty, which in this instance means killing some of the rioters from Xinjiang (almost certainly to be all Uyghurs). Africa, being the completely chaotic clusterfuck that it is these days experienced a hell of a day too: Guinea reeled from a strike called to commemorate deadly protests several weeks ago, to which the government/armed forces of Captain Camara naturally responded to with violence (the West is still debating whether or not to keep slanging guns to them or not). Despite the surrender of thousands of fighters in the Niger Delta under an amnesty program, MEND and other groups announced that it will keep up the fight and that most of those that went over where 'rented'. As has been the case for many years now, Somalia was the scene of fighting. A raid by the Ethiopians sparked diplomatic outcries, a threat by Islamic militants to blow up hospitals unless they stop using western aid is leading to that most likely becoming a reality. So then the Sun rose upon us in the Americas and we start another day. Heavy trading and fluctuations in the US dollar on the global market makes for an uncertain American economy that is far and away the most important thing to the average US citizen. An Iraq War veteran opened fire on Indiana police after they tried to take him in on suspicion of a triple homicide. A large favelha in Sao Paulo was smoldering and the night ended, with thousands of people from the shantytown now completely screwed. Mexico shut its major state run energy company because it, like many subsidized firms, was an economic train wreck bleeding money from many open wounds. This was no doubt a boon for those who greedily wait to buy up its assets and promptly raise prices for the average Mexican. So goes another day on Earth for the Humans in the strange year of our madness 2009. No need for concern, my song goes:
Fun times and the day has just gotten started for me
every time you awake in this world something to see
the brutal and beautiful all wrapped up into one
think of this when day dawns and you see the sun